These days, it's hard to pour a glass of wine without also uncorking questions about your health. Here, the sober truth.

The news about drinking is often confusing, if not outright contradictory. But new research is slowly yielding answers that can help women make the healthiest decisions for themselves.

1. You keep hearing alcohol is good for your heart. True?

More than 100 studies suggest that light to moderate drinkers have a lower risk of heart disease. And it's not just men: Women benefit, too, says JoAnn E. Manson, M.D., of Harvard Medical School. Yet, despite all this research, experts still aren't 100 percent sure if it's the alcohol — or other factors — that makes moderate drinkers heart-healthier. And given the problems excess alcohol can lead to, no one prescribes taking up drinking as a way to protect your heart.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

2. What about breast cancer?

The links between drinking and increased risk may not be as clear-cut as many scientists have thought. For example, in a recent study of over 80,000 postmenopausal women nationwide, researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that alcohol did not increase the risk for the most common form of breast cancer, ductal carcinoma, although it markedly elevated the odds of lobular carcinoma, which accounts for about 20 percent of cases. And in new Canadian research, drinking didn't increase the chances of breast cancer at all in women at high genetic risk for the disease.

Most Popular

The findings of many high-profile observational studies that have shown a connection have been overstated, says Lisa Schwartz, M.D., of Dartmouth Medical School. The statistics sound scary, but the differences in an individual woman's life are very small. Case in point: a recent, much-publicized study of over a million women in Britain. When Dr. Schwartz reanalyzed the data, she found that those who drank the most (15 drinks or more a week) had a 2.6 percent risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer over seven years, compared with a 2 percent risk for those who had two or fewer drinks per week — or a mere .6 percent bump up in risk. Lighter drinking has even less impact.

3. So how much can you drink?

Most experts agree women should limit themselves to one drink a day. But watch your pour: A "drink" is defined as 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or 1 1/2 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits.

Find out more about how much you should drink:

4. What's best to order?

All types of alcohol in moderate doses seem to protect against heart disease. Some (but not all) research suggests wine may deliver additional benefits, thanks to being rich in grape antioxidants. What's more, an intriguing multicenter study of nearly 14,000 women found that, among postmenopausal women, wine wasn't related to breast cancer, but hard liquor was. As to the question of red or white, research hasn't shown that one type is clearly healthier than the other.